Problem & IAMSU! –Million Dollar Afro mixtape review

One of the truly awesome things about having your own site is that you can dictate when, where, and why you do things. No deadlines. When the two young leaders of the California ratchet movement (Problem and IAMSU!) teamed up and dropped a mixtape I wanted to write about it but wasn’t sure what to say. So I waited…listened some more and now I do know.

Problem dominated 2012 from guest spots eating Wiz Khalifa’s Cabin Fever 2 mixtape like hors d’oeuvre and showing up just about anywhere else screaming his “WHAAAT” ad lib. No matter how you felt about his goof ball out of control sex jokes you had to respect two things; the flow and the work ethic.

IAMSU! drops mixtapes left, right, and center building his reputation by creating so much fun party music he’s impossible to dislike. They have worked together before and tend to bring the best out in one another, IAMSU is such a nice guy that Problem says the word twat less when he’s on a track (good for everyone) and both live for the competitive boost of spitting their verse after a dope one.

Once word of their collaborative mixtape Million Dollar Afro got out the impression that everyone familiar with the two got was that this thing would be the party project to end all. The expectations-finger snapping, flow changes, uncomfortable sexual references and beats that make you want to flail wildly in your cubicle. When it dropped it stumped me because it turned out to be exactly that. In hip hop getting what you expected is the most unexpected thing.

Not one song among the eighteen is a soft dedication to someone important in their lives. Every song could drive a strip club or a house party wild. The punch lines are out of control “I get in her stomach like some Metamucil (IAMSU on I need it),” and immensely satisfying if you can get yourself into the bay mentality. On Some More Ones Problem says “Want me in your grass please mow the lawn first.” This is the kind of sex joke you find all throughout. Its sexist but lets be honest there are levels of sexism and Million Dollar Afro is sexist on the level of two boys at recess exchanging disgusting jokes and laughing. They grew up rapped their asses off, made great beats and still make each other chuckle with talk of ninja turtles and vagina. Nothing said should be that disgusting because of the tone it’s presented in.

Some songs are not the stadium rocking post-hyphy you want them to be. I could do without Gas and Hunnits which don’t seem to go anywhere but who cares. Over half probably more like 70% of this tape is what I wanted it to be or better. Complaining about that would be dumb, complaining that this tape isn’t thoughtful enough would be just as dumb. When Whodini made the Freaks Come out at Night that was a party record and we still love it. It will be tough to push Million Dollar Afro out of my top mixtapes because of how relentlessly fun it is. How do you justify deleting something this fun from your mp3 player?